As someone who is passionate about technology, this is my blog designed to help educate people about social media. As well, I want to use this social media forum to bring our growing tech community together.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Are you hand watering your social media efforts?

My great grandfather farmed near the Indiana-Illinois border, and if he were alive today in south Texas, he would think that a little rain would make everything better.

With water restrictions in place, my wife takes his role as the optimist and chief agronomist, making us hand water the grass every day for 15 to 20 minutes. Sitting in the hot baking sun does not make me happy, but the results show the effort.

Today, as I thought about watering the grass (I have children to delegrate this effort to….), I see the comparison between most people social media efforts and watering the grass in my front yard.

Media superstars like Guy Kawasaki, David Meerman Scott or Dave Kerpen have become the tropical rain forests of social media. They get a lot of virtual rain in that they quickly grow relationships through Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

Three years after beginning my social media efforts, I find myself as the guy who sometimes has to hand water his social media campaigns. And, this effort has paid off for me.

However, as someone who coaches newcomers in the change management needed with social media, I have developed these rules for what my son, the viral anthropologist, calls “newbs.”

Rule 1: Consistency counts. When starting a social media campaign, make an effort to put 10 minutes a day into posting a comment or two on social media channels. For those who make the effort, they’ll grow followers. Think of social media as the luscious green yard in the neighborhood because someone has taken the time to water their grass every day.

Rule 2: Engage others. Social media can replace the need to actively take part in some outreach meetings like a chamber of commerce mixer or a service club luncheon. As someone who is somewhat reserved, I like the fact that I can sit in my jammies at 5 a.m. and engage others. However, I have found that if I do to outside meetings that if I meet someone of interest that I should ask if we can connect on LinkedIn or Twitter. Like the drought here, a little watering can build relationships.

Rule 3: Don’t become afraid of mistakes. I often find people who are afraid of making mistakes online. Yes, what’s written online takes a permanent place even for those who erase it. However, most people will forgive a typo or a missing comma. It’s kind of like a dandelion or weed in the front yard. It’s easy to weed out. People who want their social media efforts to look perfect should ask this question: “As a child, were you afraid if you played in someone’s perfect yard?” Probably, like me, most of us avoided those perfect yards and played in the ones with the random weed in it. Social media takes the same approach. Most of us want to engage others who appear human, even when he or she occasisonally make a typo.